How Did John Dewey Contribute To Education

John Dewey is considered to have been a pedagogical progressivist, meaning he focused on education reform by first reforming the way that the teaching was actually done. In the past education focused on teaching children facts, mostly by learning with repetition. This was a problem because it taught children information but not how to use that mindfulness with critical thinking in real-world situations. These problems led John Dewey to write a series of articles that described his views on teaching and how it should be improved upon, this is called “My Pedagogic Creed”. Dewey wanted to equally incorporate a psychological, the abilities and interest of the student, and sociological, the needs and commitments of the society, aspect into teaching. He believed that children were born with blank slates and throughout their lives they would receive guidance “unconsciously” and be molded into adults (Dewey, 1). So the introduction of these aspects would help the molded children into better citizens and that would help drive the social economy into prosperity and overall a better democratic society.

This paper discusses the influence of Horace Mann on the issue of education of the masses, evident in his dedication to improving the quality of education through the process of improving teacher education, increasing available funding, and standardizing the quality of educational experience provided to its students. It addresses specifically the areas presented in several of Mann’s Annual Reports published during his tenure including the areas of school buildings, moral values, school discipline, and the quality of teachers.

John was born on the farm that his parents owned. He was named after his father. his father was a deacon for their church, tax

On the turn of the 5th decade of the 20th century, America was ready for a change. The change they made was to elect John Fitzgerald Kennedy as president of the United States and V.P. Lyndon Baines Johnson. LBJ and JFK were elected as president, with similarities between the two, as well a common vision for America. However, they came from vastly different backgrounds during their lifetime, which affected how they ran the country as they were the president.

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of The United States of America and one of the most influential founding fathers in American history. Thomas was born in Shadwell in Albemarle County, Virginia in 1743. His father Peter Jefferson was a well respected planter in Virginia. Not much is said about Jefferson 's early life due to the Shadwell fire. The Shadwell fire destroyed many of Jefferson 's person recollections in 1770 leaving much of his early history and his development into an American leader a mystery. But during Jefferson 's college years, Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary in 1760. Jefferson was a quiet and reserved man with a passion for education. During college, according to his classmates, he would spend hours on end with his books and was always serious. He graduated in 1762 and studied law in Williamsburg with George Wythe, the first American law professor, and stayed there for five years. After his five year internship Jefferson continued to practice law by representing small scale planters. Through this, he gained an impressive reputation around Williamsburg.

John Hancock was born on January 12, 1737. He became an orphan upon the death of his father until his wealthy uncle adopted him and put Hancock to work. His uncle owned a mercantile firm called Thomas Hancock & Company, which was the leading trade company in Boston, Massachusetts at the time. (John Hancock) John Hancock’s uncle became mortally sick in 1761. In 1764, he took charge of his uncle’s firm

In the period between 1800 and 1850, we have two great presidents that left their footprint in the American society and history. Even nowadays, we still use some of their ideas.

During the mid eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century the United States of America experienced some difficult times throughout the country. It first had to watch it’s own nation split apart during the Civil War, also the U.S. had just fought for it’s own independence from Great Britain not even a hundred years ago. Then shortly after the war and the reconstruction area began, later moving to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the United States witnessed the Great Depression. Another dark period in U.S. history that virtually affected every one in America at the time in both positive and negative ways. Furthermore, the group that experienced some of the challenging times, both socially and economically during the Great Depression

It was a time when the United States was finally emerging as a super power, and Americans were on the cusp of both great change and controversy. For example, Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of our nation. The American people

His father, Peter Jefferson was a plantation farmer that owned slaves. He was also a successful map maker. His mother was Jane Randolph Jefferson who was the wealthy daughter of a established Virginia family. When Jefferson was fourteen, his father died. Jefferson inherited 3,000 acres of land and about thirty slaves in his fathers will.

Thomas Jefferson was born into a notable family on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia. “His mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, was a member of the proud Randolph clan, a family claiming descent from English and Scottish royalty. His father, Peter Jefferson, was a successful farmer as well as a skilled surveyor and cartographer” (“Thomas Jefferson Biography.com”) Jefferson spent majority of his free time practicing violin, roaming the wood and studying his books on a plantation in Virginia. At age nine, Jefferson had begun his formal studies, boarding with a minister-teacher, where he continued until age sixteen.

Harry Truman was the 33rd president of the United States of America. Born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri. He was the first of three children to John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young Truman. Harry’s parents, his brother and sister (Mary Jane Truman, John Vivian Truman), and he moved to Independence, Missouri in 1890. John and Martha wanted their children to attend graded school instead of a country schoolhouse. Harry studied core classes plus penmanship, arithmetic, hygiene, and music. He loved his school and he loved all of his teachers. Harry wrote, "I do not remember a bad teacher in all my experiences. They were all different, of course, but they were the salt of the earth. They gave us high ideals and they hardly ever received

Growing up in school, when “Dewey” was mentioned, one more than likely thought of the Dewey decimal system, which was used in libraries. However, that system was created by Melvil Dewey, and while he was an important person, there was another Dewey that impacted education in extraordinary ways. That man is known as John Dewey. John Dewey shaped the education system that we have today by reconstructing the progressive education. Dewey was a philosopher, and educational theorist who used experimentalism, as well as many other theories to change the way the American Education system was done. He lived during the time period where traditional and progressive education were coming together, so he used both to create his own personal philosophies. Once of his major philosophies was relating learning to society. Additionally, he used dualism as an approach to his philosophies that changed the education system. He impacted today’s education system in many ways, with his different ideas still being seen in school’s today. Incorporating multiple subjects into school’s, as well as taking a hand’s on learning approach are two theories that while many other philosophers believed in as well, Dewey used to develop the education system. John Dewey was a model citizen, that benefited society and the American education system in a variety of ways.

John Dewey is one of many who impacted education greatly. I believe John Dewey made such a big impacted on education because of his different beliefs with how students learned. His revolutionary ideas during his life, that remain fundamentally important to modern schooling today. Dewey had a new philosophy and ideas on how students learn and how teachers should teach. He believed that people learn by doing, and learn from a hands on approach. He also thought for this to be able to happen, students had to interact with their environment to better adapt and learn. Dewey also thought that teachers and students must learn together, which was a very interesting concept to me because I think people, even adults should always be learning. I think John Dewey says it best when he says “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”

There were many aspects of the American life during the 19th century that have changed significantly from the times beforehand. Whether it be from economic policies, religious ideals, or political platforms, there were so many changes being made,